Mobility and movement will grab the attention of those seeing it from the corner of their eyes. It is a way to release and use energy. For musicians, a lot of it is energy they feed off from performing music and the audience members. It would be the theme of a most of these musicians on this night from Pointbreak to Death by Stereo. The lineup was packed, with Life and Limb, Elvis Cortez, the Venomous Pinks, and Toxic Energy four more bands playing this Friday night at the Yucca…

There are a few gems in the Phoenix punk scene that don’t play too often. One of them being The Revenge. Fronted by Dennis Welch, a personality in his own right, and joined by matching personalities behind him makes for one explosively fun set of punk rock. Wit is thrown, beer is thrown, and all out blast is had. Snuck into this gallery is two shots that turned out of the excellent We Were Stereo too.

Pets are a member of the family. They are taken in and loved like any one of our children, and sometimes are the only children we have. However, there are situations where this is not the case. People who think they have time for taking care of one until the realization they don’t and, in some cases, worse mistreatment lands many of our favorite canine’s in animal shelters. That is where AZ K9 charity comes in, to educate and support adoption of shelter dogs that need a home. In its…

Masked Intruder is a band that first appeared on my radar as part of the Fat Wreck tour in 2013. On stage each member adorns a color coordinated ski mask and instrument. All the while, they sing songs about love and crime in a Ramones inspired pop punk. Personality radiates from the stage as they are constantly telling jokes and stories about their criminal escapades. This personality extends to Officer Bradford. He starts off serious looking like their parole officer, but then works to beat on the occasional intruder and…

Continuing on with the artist spotlight feature brings a local Nerdcore duo into the light. This is one you may not see as often locally because they have been doing a lot of trekking around the country since they started. My history with them goes back to when April was drumming in this fantastic blues and soul style band, Sister Lip. When that band ended up calling it quits, a few members went onto new projects with April joining Kalen for Snailmate. In the more than a decade since I…

There are older bands I have not caught in a non-festival setting. These are excellent ones that either they haven’t visited in the time since discovering or I had one of my regular overlaps of music I want to go see in the same night. The Lower Class Brats and Old Firm Casuals are both bands that until recently fit underneath this. A show additionally bringing a Tucson favorite, Thug Riot, and I got introduced to a band I had never heard before, Grade 2. Opening up are the Tucson…

For the third band in my most recent feature, the Artist Spotlight, I am shining it on the Bombpops. This is a band I discovered the first time at Last Exit Live on a tour with the Swingin’ Utters in April 2015. This unknown was upbeat and the right kind of pop punk I love. A little Ramones blended with Joan Jett with their unique take on it. Lyrics I could relate to, with a few specifically because I had just come out of one of the worst relationship of…

Twenty years ago there was a small festival that started up in Las Vegas as a couple of club shows. That festival gradually grew to become what everyone knows as Punk Rock Bowling. Five years ago, in a similar idea for the Phoenix scene, Andy Jones put on the first ever Phoenix Ska Punk Bowling. The goal was to bring together our local punk, ska, and rockabilly at an affordable price for a couple days. Each year brings a couple national headliners too, that first one included Teenage Bottlerocket, The…

Sometimes shows are going to be quieter and smaller. They tend to be the ones sitting on a Sunday, although a few big bands buck that trend. You find the gems at these shows. One such occasion is a week ago at the Yucca Tap Room, where we found our punk regulars, Birth of Monsters, joined by the up and coming young punks of Not Confined and the latest acoustic duo of Shamehole. Up first were the familiar faces of Shamehole. This two piece band is made up of Evan,…

There is a special feeling to watching bands in a smaller venue. That special feeling grows larger when it ends up a band that has been performing punk rock for the last three decades. In this case, it was my second time capturing that feeling of watching TSOL at the Yucca Tap Room. This night they were accompanied by two spotlights of the Phoenix punk bands, Heavy Breather and the Venomous Pinks. Opening up is a band I haven’t had a chance to tell you about on this site, Heavy…